Snowgirl Save
Location: Elkins, West Virginia Date: December 23, 1990 Story On the night of December 23, 1990 in Elkins, West Virginia, 21-year-old Steve Robinson, his fiancee, 20-year-old Melinda Eichelberger, and her three-year-old daughter, Brittany, were getting ready for the holiday season. But before they had time to open a single gift, they were wondering how much Christmas had to do with miracles after all. It had been snowing on and off all day, and the temperature was expected to drop well below freezing that night. "Brittany had asked me all day long to bake her Christmas cookies; she wanted the M&M ones made first. So we made chocolate chip and I tried to get her to come in and put the sprinkles on top of the cookies. She said, 'No, I want to watch my cartoons,'" remembers Melinda. Brittany and Steve were watching cartoons and Christmas specials. "Brittany kind of got tired of baking cookies, then came back in the living room and laid down on the floor. I got her a pillow and tucked her under the covers," said Steve. From 10:30 to 11pm, she stayed in the living room, fell asleep, and watched TV. Melinda fell asleep on the couch and left the TV on. "Then I woke up at 3am. Brittany was sound asleep. I put the covers on her, went on into my bedroom, and went to sleep," said Melinda. At dawn on Christmas Eve, Brittany woke up, opened the front door, and went outside into the cold without a coat, hat, or scarf. Melinda woke up at 9:30am and asked Steve if Brittany had been in the bedroom and he said no. She walked out into the living room and saw that the front door was open. "It scared me," said Melinda. She went into Brittany's bedroom and called her name, but she was not there. She then told Steve that Brittany was gone and that she couldn't find her. She ran outside calling Brittany's name and asked the neighbors if they had seen her, but they hadn't. Melinda panicked, thinking someone had kidnapped her. Melinda and Steve discovered Brittany laying frozen in a pile of snow. "She was white, her eyes were open, and she was stiff," said Steve. At 10am, a call came into the Randolph Communications. At the same time, an ambulance was dispatched. Neighbor Paul Owens ran over to help and did CPR on Brittany. "I looked for a pulse, but couldn't find one. She was not breathing," he explained. Within five minutes, paramedic Brenda Daily and her partners arrived on the scene. "When I picked her up, nothing happened at all. This child was frozen, literally frozen stiff, as if when you take a piece of frozen meat out of the freezer. When I put my mouth on hers, that's exactly what it felt like. Everything that was going through my mind was, 'Please, God, this is a kid. It's Christmas Eve. Don't do this to me.' I didn't know if I could handle this," said Brenda. Melinda and Steve were very scared when they took Brittany away in the ambulance. Brenda called emergency physician John Prescott at the West Virginia University Medical Command Center, telling him that a three-year-old girl was in full cardiac arrest after being found frozen in the snow exposed. He provided initial direction of the resuscitation and arranged for emergency air transport. Brittany was rushed to Davis Memorial Hospital where Dr. John Veach took over her care. "We continued CPR and it was our hope that she would survive," he explained. Doctors and nurses kept coming in and telling Melinda and Steve that she was still cold and not responding. Her body temperature came up. "Right before they took her out to the ambulance, I got to see her again. I asked if it would be alright if she had her doll and they said, 'Yes,'" said Melinda. Her eyes were taped shut and she had a tube in her throat. Only her nose was showing. Melinda said her final goodbye and walked out crying. Still unconscious with a weak pulse, Brittany was taken by ambulance to the airport to be flown 60 miles to the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. Her parents could not go with her, so she became restless in the ambulance and was still hypothermic. Brenda and the paramedics sat with her in the back and sang "Jingle Bells" to her. "She bonded with us. It was like it was a part of us. She's a part of me," said Brenda. At the Children's Hospital, she continued a remarkable recovery. Twelve days after Christmas, she was released and went back home. On January 7, 1991, a big sign saying "Welcome Home, Brittany" was on the door. Brittany and her parents celebrated Christmas late, and she got to open her presents. "Like everyone said, 'It was a little Christmas miracle,'" said Steve. Even though she sustained no permanent injuries, she still has difficulty with motor function in her lower and left upper extremities and still has several months of physical therapy ahead of her. "I've learned that you never underestimate your three-year-old, so we're going to put special locks on the door to where she can't get out," said Melinda. Category:1990 Category:West Virginia Category:Cardiac Arrest Category:Holiday Category:Christmas